Sea of Fire

corrupted or intact. Even no information was information. She would deal with whatever they discovered. Though not a practicing Buddhist, Loh believed in the four noble truths it taught: that existence is suffering; that the cause of suffering is desire; that suffering eventually ends in a state of peace known as nirvana; and that the road to nirvana, the so-called eightfold noble path, consists of the qualities of right resolve, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration. All of those skills did not come easily. And they required one thing above all.

Patience.

Loh had learned that quality by watching her father work on his cases. In the end, the perpetrator would be caught. It only remained to be seen how, when, and where.

After a few minutes, the young male specialist in charge of naval underwater systems jogged over to FNO Loh. He saluted.

'Ambient radiation levels are below normal at the site of the last deposit,' he said. 'Unless the coordinates are incorrect.'

'There is no reason to believe they are,' she said. 'Go down and see what you can find.'

'Ma'am,' he said, saluting and turning.

It took just five minutes for the underwater unit to get into the sea. They carried a fluoroscopic scanner. If there were anything hot inside the stencil-dated concrete block, it would show up as a red pattern on the viewfinder.

Ten minutes later the three-person team reached the site. The block that had been deposited registered as cold. It contained no radioactive materials. FNO Loh unhooked the point-to-point radio from her belt. She contacted Warrant Officer Jelbart on the other vessel.

'Then the materials were off-loaded somewhere between the source and the drop-off point,' Jelbart said.

'That is apparently the case,' Loh agreed.

'And it's possible they were given to the vessel that was attacked by the sampan,' Jelbart said.

'That is also likely,' she said.

'We'll get the name and registry of the ship that made this drop,' Jelbart told her. 'Then we'll have a talk with the captain.'

'That is worth doing,' Loh said. 'But I am betting you will not find the ship or the crew.'

'What do you mean?' Jelbart asked. 'The ship has to be registered.'

'That is true,' she said. 'But that vessel probably has multiple registries. I am guessing they were notified when the sampan attacked their fellow ship. While they were still at sea, the vessel would have been rechristened and the hull repainted. I doubt very much that we will find it.'

'Then we've learned nothing,' Jelbart said. 'Except for the fact that there is a great deal of nuclear waste somewhere in our corner of the world.'

'That is not nothing,' Loh said. 'We will find it.'

'I like your attitude. Any suggestions?' Jelbart asked.

'Just one,' she said. 'Have patience.'

Chapter Twenty-Two

Cairns, Australia Friday, 9:45 P.M.

Peter Kannaday returned to the yacht a shaken man.

During the meeting with Jervis Darling, the captain had experienced something extremely disturbing. For the first time in his forty-seven years, Kannaday's natural, healthy suspicion had blossomed like a nightshade into poisonous paranoia. And it had happened for a shockingly simple reason. Being buffeted by two forces, Jervis Darling and John Hawke, was troublesome enough. What bothered Kannaday more was the thought that those forces might not be working independently. Hawke had been hired by Darling. They could be working together through Marcus Darling. Perhaps the elder Darling wanted Kannaday to turn on Hawke so that Hawke could eliminate him. Then he could seize the yacht. Kannaday's crew would not turn against a security chief who had defended himself. From Jervis Darling's point of view, this was easier and more secure than purchasing a yacht and leaving a paper trail. Or there could be other reasons. Perhaps Darling was doing this out of nothing more than utter contempt for an easygoing man. Or maybe breaking people was how Darling got his jollies.

These suspicions turned the captain's natural force, his momentum, inside out. It had turned healthy caution into deadly fear. Kannaday had to find a way to get rid of that.

Kannaday also had to get rid of John Hawke. Even if Hawke and Darling were not working together, the captain had not been given any wiggle room on that account.

Kannaday hoped that getting the mission back under way would help restore some of his balance.

The Hosannah left Darling Cove at 9:05 P.M. Repairs to the laboratory had been completed by 10 o'clock. The new equipment had been secured and tested. The yacht was ready to make their delayed rendezvous with a fishing vessel from Malaysia. But no sooner had they set out than Kannaday's radio beeped. It was Marcus Darling reporting some very odd radio traffic in the Celebes Sea. Captain Kannaday went below to see him.

John Hawke was already in the radio shack. It was the first time Kannaday had seen him since returning from the Darling estate. The security chief had been working in his cabin when Kannaday returned.

Their eyes barely met. Hawke said nothing to Kannaday, and the captain did not acknowledge the security chief. Kannaday stood behind the radio operator. Hawke was to the left, where the porthole used to be. Marcus had an AltaVista translation file open on his laptop. The program automatically translated incoming messages into English typescript.

'I picked up a communication from a Japanese trawler,' Marcus said. 'He was asking if it was safe to pass.'

'Asking who?' Kannaday asked.

'A Singaporean patrol vessel, judging by the names and ranks,' Marcus replied.

'Why would he ask that?' Kannaday asked.

'The trawler is at one hundred and thirty degrees longitude, five degrees latitude,' the younger Darling told him. 'Obviously, the patrol ship is there as well. And the worst news is, it may not be alone.'

Kannaday felt a chill. 'Go on.'

'The ship from Singapore is apparently talking to another ship,' Marcus continued. 'I can't hear what the other ship is saying because the message is blacked out.'

'Then how do you know the Singaporeans are talking to another ship?' Kannaday asked.

'Because there are short blackouts after every conversation with the trawler,' Marcus told him. 'They are of roughly the same duration as the initial conversation. It's as if the boat receiving the message is translating and relaying the conversation word for word.'

'Why wouldn't another ship just listen in?' Hawke asked.

'Because as soon as the other ship turned on their radio, someone like me would know they were there. And, more importantly, I'd know exactly who they were,' Marcus said.

'I see,' Kannaday said. 'Is that a military tactic?'

'Military or police, yes,' Marcus replied.

Military and police vessels did not go to that site on routine visits. The area was monitored by civilian vessels of the International Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

'We need to find out who is there,' Hawke said.

'Why?' Kannaday asked. 'The dumping grounds are not on any of our routes.'

'They are on Jaafar's route,' Hawke pointed out.

'Why should that worry us?' Kannaday asked.

'He is an ally.'

'By now Jaafar has got the name of his ship repainted and is flying a different flag,' Kannaday said. 'Those changes would have been made at night or under a tarpaulin. It is very unlikely that anyone would have seen